DeConick A.D

69
THE GNOSTIC TRUE MAN
It was on this esoteric reputation that the Egyptians built a lucrative
business as a prime travel destination for religious tourists. The Greeks recounted
stories of their own great philosopher heroes, such as Pythagoras
and Plato traveling in Egypt, learning from the priests secret knowledge
that only these religious masters possessed (see Strabo, Geography 17.1.29;
Diogenes Laertius, Lives of the Philosophers 3.6, 8.3, 8.87, 9.35; Iamblichus,
On the Mysteries of Egypt I.1–2). The Egyptian priests were viewed as shamanic
gurus ready to instruct and initiate Greeks and Romans into the ancient
mysteries and philosophies of arcane Egypt. For instance, the priest
Pancrates took on the philosophers Arignotus and Eucrates as students,
sharing with them all his secret knowledge in a structure beneath the temple
(Lucian, Philopseudes 33–4; Frankfurter 1998, 217–18; Dieleman 2005,
185–284). In a comedic novel about the adventures of Lucian the Ass,
this view of Egyptian priests is confirmed. For a price, the Greek Lucian
is taken into a temple of Isis in Corinth and then in Rome and is initiated
into her mysteries by priests who instruct Lucian from their sacred books
and take Lucian on shamanic journeys through the underworld and skies
to meet all the gods (Apuleius, Metamorphoses 11).
The Egyptian priests were described by the Greeks as great philosophers
who taught at the temples and performed rituals that conveyed the
deepest truths to their pupils. They were portrayed as mystics who had
renounced earthly pleasures in order to dedicate themselves to the contemplation
of the divine world, which involved trying to understand the
heavenly bodies and their astrological movements (Chaeremon, frag. 10
= Porphyry, De abstinentia IV.6; Van der Horst 1984, x). They were understood
to be the keepers, if not the outright authors, of the sacred literature
of the Egyptian god Thoth, who was also recognized as Hermes.
The books of Thoth–Hermes were renowned for their arcane wisdom and
truth, covering esoteric topics from astrology and healing arts to theology
and ritual. The priests owned recipe books of magical spells, too, which
they used to destroy enemies, bind lovers, heal migraines, and much more.
Priests could be hired as spiritual consultants by Greeks and Romans
visiting Egyptian temples and shrines. For some coin, priests were known
for their shamanic abilities to conjure souls from the underworld, whom
the visitor could question about such topics as the immortality of the soul
(see Pseudo-Clementine, Recognitions 1.5). In the ancient mind, if there
was truth to be had, the Egyptian priest owned it, and he was willing to
take on foreign initiates who could afford it.